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Community Support as a Moderator of Postdisaster Mental Health Symptoms in Urban and Nonurban Communities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2013

Jenny S. West ,
Matthew Price ,
Kirstin Stauffacher Gros  and
Kenneth J. Ruggiero
Jenny S. West
Affiliation:
Medical University of South Carolina, Irvine, California Charleston, South Carolina; and the University of California, Irvine, California
Matthew Price
Affiliation:
Medical University of South Carolina, Irvine, California Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, Irvine, California
Kirstin Stauffacher Gros
Affiliation:
Medical University of South Carolina, Irvine, California Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, Irvine, California
Kenneth J. Ruggiero*
Affiliation:
Medical University of South Carolina, Irvine, California Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, Irvine, California
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Kenneth J. Ruggiero, PhD, National Crime Victims Center, Medical University of South Carolina, 67 President St, Charleston, SC 29425 e-mail prima@musc.edu.
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Abstract

Objective

We examined the association between disaster exposure, community support, and mental health outcomes in urban and nonurban participants of Galveston and Chambers counties after Hurricane Ike. The moderating effect of community support was evaluated as a protective factor relative to postdisaster mental health.

Methods

A representative population-based sample of 157 urban and 714 nonurban adults were interviewed 12 to 17 months after the hurricane about their mental health functioning, disaster exposure, and perceptions of community support.

Results

A series of multiple regressions demonstrated that disaster exposure was associated with mental health outcomes for both groups. The strength of the association varied across population samples.Community support moderated the association between interpersonal effects of the disaster and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression outcomes in nonurban participants and the association between property damage and PTSD in urban participants.

Conclusions

Community support played a larger role in reducing PTSD and depression symptoms associated with the interpersonal effects of a disaster in the nonurban sample only. Communities may play a more beneficial role in the recovery process in nonurban areas that have elevated levels of injury or death attributed to a disaster. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2013;0:1–9)

Keywords

community supporturban nonurbanPTSDdepression
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 7 , Issue 5 , October 2013 , pp. 443 - 451
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2013 

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